John 'Jack' Hamilton Greaves, 90
John “Jack” Hamilton Greaves passed away peacefully in Kalispell on Feb. 22, 2014, at the age of 90, with Betty, his wife of almost 70 years, by his side.
Jack was loved and revered by his family as a man of deep intelligence with wisdom and a dry sense of humor sparkling through.
Jack was born in Grand Forks, N.D., and spent his youth in Great Falls. Jack graduated from Great Falls High in 1942. Betty Gibson entered the picture shortly thereafter, and it was love at first sight. Jack and Betty were married in Great Falls on April 5, 1945.
He studied at the University of Montana, Missoula (1943), Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (1946) and graduated from Montana State University, Bozeman in 1954 with a degree in architectural engineering. In 2009, at the age of 86, Jack was awarded a retroactive Master of Architecture degree from MSU. He was honored to participate in the graduation ceremony that year.
Jack's education was interrupted by his service to his country as a fighter pilot and POW in the Army Air Corps in World War II, where he graduated at the top of his flight school class of 200. In July 1944, Jack arrived in the European Theatre in the 428th Squadron of the 474th Fighter Group. He flew the P-38, P-51, P-47 and P-39, among others.
After a number of successful missions, Jack was shot down in his P-38 Lightning during the Battle of Falaise-Argentan Gap. Captured by the enemy, he was held for five days by the SS as they marched towards the POW camp. Jack escaped at night by kicking over a lamp and table as his guards played cards. After a couple of days of fleeing through the forests, he came upon a French man chopping wood. Jack managed to prove he was American with a Band-Aid wrapper marked “Made in USA.” The French family, the LeGrands, harbored him until the Canadians freed the town of Martainville-Epreville.
After the war, Jack returned to Great Falls and married his sweetheart, Betty Gibson. He worked as an engineer for Proctor and Gamble (Virginia and Ohio), Aerojet (Sacramento, Calif.) and Bechtel (San Francisco). He also was the manager of construction for Wells Fargo Bank, building 60 banks in Northern California.
In the mid-60s, Jack decided to follow his passion for designing and building beautiful homes. As an architect licensed in California and Montana, his distinctive custom homes can be found in Marin County, Sea Ranch, Great Falls, Whitefish Lake and Flathead Lake, Montana. Jack built about 1.5 homes a year and did most of the building and finishing himself. He was truly a “Jack-of-all-trades!”
In later years, Jack was the tribal architect for the Salish Kootenai tribes. His community activities include service on the board, Flathead County Library Foundation and the Shoreline Protection board, Flathead Lake.
His interests were reading, fly fishing, cooking, building furniture, engineering and playing the piano — first boogie woogie and later classical music. As a teenager in Great Falls, Jack became an honorary member of the Blackfeet tribe with the bestowed name of Wolf Plume.
In addition to his wife Betty, Jack leaves his children, Susan Greaves Hubele and Robert of Vancouver, British Columbia, Cindy Greaves of Great Falls, and John Gibson Greaves of Rollins. Jack's surviving sister is Marilyn Greaves Hansen of Pasco, Wash. Jack is also survived by Betty's brothers, Dr. Hi and Mary Gibson of Kalispell, and Edward Gibson of Seattle.
Jack's grandchildren are Camille Anderson of Calgary, Charis Birchall of Calgary, David Greaves Casey of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Elisabeth “Lisa” Manning of Petaluma, Calif. Great-grandchildren are Casey, Natalie and James Anderson, and Jacob and Audrey Birchall.
Predeceasing Jack were his parents, Dr. Percival and Adelaide Greaves; and brother, Dr. Donald Greaves; and sister, Jan Greaves. Jack's parents-in-law were Dr. Harry and Ruth Gibson.
Special thanks to Dr. Jonas and Dr. Woodward and staff at the Kalispell Regional Hospital Hospice for the great care, respect and dignity they provided.
Any contributions in Jack's memory can be sent to the Lakeside Chapel, 283 Adams St, Lakeside MT 59922, or a recipient of the sender's choice.
A celebration of Jack's life will be held on June 28. June 28 would have been Jack's 91st birthday.